Scotland football predictions, goalscorers and fixtures

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Scottish national football team-home games are played at the National Stadium Hampden Park

The Scottish national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It participates in the three major professional tournaments, the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Nations League and the UEFA European Championship. As a UK country, Scotland is not a member of the International Olympic Committee, which is why the national team does not participate in the Olympic Games. Most home games in Scotland are played at the National Stadium Hampden Park.

Scotland is next to England football the oldest national football team in the world. In 1872 she played the first international football game in the world. Scotland has long had a rivalry with England, against which they competed annually from 1872 to 1989. Since then, I've met only seven times, most recently in June 2017.

Scotland have qualified eight times for the FIFA World Cup and twice for the UEFA European Championship but have never completed the first group stage of a final tournament. The last major tournament they qualified for was the 1998 World Cup. The team has achieved some remarkable results, including the 3-2 defeat of the 1966 FIFA World Cup winner England at Wembley (1967). Archie Gemmill scored the 1978 World Cup against the Netherlands in a 3-2 victory in one of the biggest World Cup goals of all time, reaching the finals of the tournament. In the qualifying group for the UEFA Euro 2008, Scotland defeated in both games the runner-up of the 2006 World Cup, France football, 1-0.

Scotland's followers are commonly known as the Tartan Army. The Scottish Football Association has a list of honors for every player who has completed more than 50 appearances for Scotland. Kenny Dalglish holds the record for Scotland's games, having played 102 games between 1971 and 1986. Dalglish scored 30 goals for Scotland and shares the record for most goals scored by Denis Law.

The SFA appointed Craig Levein head coach of the national team in December 2009. In qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2012, Scotland were grouped with Lithuania, Liechtenstein, the Czech Republic and the World Champion Spain football. They only scored four points from the first four games and had to record three wins in the remaining four games to have a realistic chance of advancement. They only managed two wins and a draw and dropped out after a 3-1 defeat to Spain in the last game. Levein left his post as head coach after a poor start to the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign after scoring just two points in four games.

Gordon Strachan was named Scottish Trainer in January 2013. Scotland lost as the first UEFA team in the 2014 World Cup due to defeats in their first two competitive matches. Scotland finished their qualifying campaign with three wins in their last four games, including two wins over Croatia. In qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2016, Scotland seemed to have better qualifying opportunities as the final tournament was extended from 16 to 24 teams. After the defeat in the opening match in Scotland scored home wins against Georgia, the Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar. Steven Fletcher scored the first hat-trick for Scotland since 1969 in the game with Gibraltar. Later in the group, Scotland produced a "bland" performance when they lost 1-0 in Georgia. A home defeat by Germany and a late equalizer against Poland have left Scotland out of the competition. After a victory against Gibraltar in the last qualifying match Strachan agreed a new contract with the SFA.

In qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Scotland and England faced each other for the first time since 1999. England defeated Scotland 3-0 at Wembley on 11 November 2016. In the second leg Leigh Griffiths scored two late free-kicks to give Scotland a 2-1 lead, but Harry Kane scored a 2-2 draw in injury time. A draw in Slovenia in the last game of the group ended Scottish hopes for a play-off position, and Strachan subsequently left his position by mutual agreement. In February 2018, Alex McLeish was appointed manager for the second time. The team won their group in the 2018-19 UEFA Nations League, but McLeish left in April 2019 after a poor start to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2020, including a 0-3 defeat to 117th place Kazakhstan.

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